Terrebonne school board grants levee district passage
February 15, 2011
Resolution bid draws council fire
February 17, 2011
St. Mary Parish got a much needed boost for tourism – a $500,000 grant from BP.
Chief Administrator Henry “Bo” Lagrange said the money is part of the company’s make-good to Louisiana for the harm the April 20, 2010, Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused to the state’s tourism and seafood industries.
“The money is earmarked for improving tourism – improving positive perceptions of Louisiana as a tourism destination and to entice people to visit,” he said.
To use the money, Lagrange said St. Mary must have its marketing plan approved by the Louisiana Secretary of State and BP.
Although St. Mary’s coast was spared oil damage for the most part, the catastrophe caused a downturn in sales for most oil and gas industry-related businesses in the parish.
Ameripure Oyster Company in Franklin was also forced to shutter its doors when oyster beds were closed. The company employed 60 people.
The economic impact wasn’t completely negative, however. Hotel rooms were at a premium throughout the disaster and subsequent cleanup.
The parish’s economy was buoyed by the 75th Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City over Labor Day weekend. The event drew international attention and saw its biggest crowds in history, according to Frank Fink, the parish’s economic development director.
Word of the BP grant comes shortly after St. Mary’s tourism effort – the Cajun Coast – began driving pilings at the site of a $3.8 million welcome center. Designed to resemble a Cajun cabin, the 16,000-plus-square-foot facility is located at the Martin Luther King Boulevard exit in Morgan City.
Work began in October 2010.
Money for the project is garnered through a state Department of Transportation and Development grant, which was awarded in 2004.
Cajun Coast Visitor’s and Convention Bureau Director Carrie Stansbury said it is hard to track the number of tourists who visit St. Mary Parish on an annual basis. Visitors commonly traveling from other parts of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Florida stop in the parish.
Stansbury said St. Mary also sees its fair share of sightseers from France and Canada. “Aside from the shrimp festival, I’d say conservatively that 30,000 to 50,000 are visiting,” she said.
A recent survey indicated that those who do visit spend, on average, five hours perusing the parish, Stansbury said.
With the influx of BP grant dollars, Stansbury hopes to see those numbers grow dramatically.
Cajun Coast Visitors and Convention Bureau Director Carrie Stansbury displays the new Cajun cabin-style tourism center being built in St. Mary Parish. FILE PHOTO
